Newbury Park High finishes seventh in state mock trial contest

RIVERSIDE — Newbury Park High School senior Eileen Henderson may have a dilemma at the end of classes today. For the first time since mid-September, she won’t have a mock trial to occupy her after-school time.

“I guess I’ll be going back to the swim team,” she said with a shrug Sunday afternoon.

She’ll be taking plenty of good memories with her.

In their first competition on the state level, Henderson and her 17 mock trial teammates finished seventh among the 34 teams in the 28th annual California Mock Trial Finals at the Riverside County Hall of Justice.

The competition attracted more than 600 students from across California who represented both sides in a complicated arson trial before actual trial judges.

In the competition, which started Friday night, each team argued four trials lasting more than two hours each. As one of the lead attorneys for the defense, Henderson took part in three of those four cases.

“It’s exhausting,” she said. “We were up at 6 o’clock on Saturday, doing our hair, getting dressed and practicing. Then it turned into a long day. We were so tired when it was all over.”

Newbury Park defeated defending state champion La Reina High School in the Ventura County competition a few weeks ago to qualify for state. Entering the final round on Saturday, the team thought it might finish as high as third in the state final, but when the standings were released Sunday, Newbury Park had slipped to seventh.

“I’m just happy to be where we are,” said Peggy Walker, the team’s adviser. “These kids worked so hard to get here and after getting past La Reina we didn’t know what to expect.”

Tamalpais High School in Marin County won this year’s state mock trial competition. The team qualifies for the national finals this spring in Atlanta. Second and third places went to Elk Grove High of Sacramento County and Menlo High in San Mateo County. They both qualify for an invitational competition in New Jersey.

After all that work, Henderson said, she’ll miss the courtroom.

“I’m on two sports teams and in International Baccalaureate,” said Henderson, who someday wants to be a lawyer. “But to me, mock trial is definitely Number One. Yes, I will miss it a lot.”